Apparatus for forming chemical solutions in water are known. In one particular are of use, apparatus for forming chemical solutions are used to form chemical solutions of water treatment chemicals. Some water treatment chemicals for pools, spas and the like, need to be added to water in relatively small amounts on a regular schedule. Most of the time, these chemicals are added manually by the pool owner or pool maintenance company. However, this can be time consuming and require the owner or maintenance company to be at poolside on a regular basis to add these chemicals to maintain the correct balance of chemicals in water.
Methods of adding pool chemicals such as dissolvable tablets, slow release formulations and the like can be used as well. But depending on flow rates, or lack of flow, of the pool or spa water, using these dissolvable tablets, slow release formulations and the like can result in too much or not enough of the water treatment chemical being added to the pool, spa or body of water being treated.
Water treatment apparatus can be in-line apparatus, in which the main water flow is caused to flow thru the apparatus or can be off-line apparatus. In-line apparatus often have high flow rates thru the apparatus and off-line apparatuses typically have low flow rates, generally 0.25 gallons to about 3 gallons per minute. However, with such low flow rates, getting enough flow over the slow dissolving chemicals to effectively dissolve the chemical to obtain a solution with sufficient chemical to accomplish the function of the chemical solution can be difficult.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for water treatment apparatus that can effectively dissolve slow dissolving chemicals in an effective manner using a relatively low flow of water thru the apparatus, by placing enough, but not too much chemical, in the water to be treated. The present invention provides an answer to that need.